Police were able to speak to the suspect on the phone however and he has agreed to speak to officers voluntarily.

A guesthouse on Station Road, Redcar was also raided.

A convoy of police vehicles left Kirkleatham police station at Redcar this morning to target 18 people suspected of illegal activities.

Up to 25 officers from CID, the high-priority crime unit and plain clothes police were taking part in the operation, which was due to run throughout today.

Detective Sergeant Nigel McCartney, who led the co-ordinated raids, said: “The whole idea behind the operation is to identify suspects responsible for crime and then to arrest them and bring them to justice as soon as possible.”

“By making these arrests we are aiming to prevent these people carrying out further crimes.

“Ideally we want to arrest these people as soon as the crime is committed but this is not always practical.

“It is often difficult to find these people - they can be quite transient.

“But with intelligence-led operations such as this we hope to bring them to justice.”

Of the 18 targets, 12 are suspected of burglary and six were believed to be in possession of stolen goods.

Homes in Redcar, Lotus, Grangetown, Skelton and Guisborough were also targeted by officers.

The high-profile raids are the third to have carried out by Cleveland Police in the Redcar and Cleveland district so far this year.

In March, a total of 30 people were arrested after raids involving more than 60 officers.

Meanwhile in February, 12 suspects were targeted by officers in an early morning operation - resulting in seven arrests.